Elsword: Strings of Fate
by RavenKhaotic
Summary: Five years after the Elgang recover the El and defeat the demon army. When a member of a secret organization called the Blizzards of Fate goes off on a mission to stop a criminal, he doesn't suspect that he's about to get pulled into the adventure of a lifetime to save all of Elrios. Join Nyte and his friends on their journey, where the fate of the world hangs in the balance!
1. Mission Start! The Bloody Marionette!

"Lieutenant Obsidia, here's your new assignment."  
"Yes, Ma'am." I said, nodding and holding out my hand.  
The Commander handed my an envelope. Opening it up, I noticed that there were only two papers inside. The first was a report describing the target's crimes. 43 assualts, 22 reports of thievery, and 12 murders, one of which was an ambassador from Lurensia. I see why I was the one assigned to this. This was a high priority mission.  
Despite that, it was the second paper that I found interesting. It was a sketch of the target based on eyewitness reports.  
"This is the infamous Bloody Marionette?" I asked. The sketch was of a small, innocent-looking girl with short hair in a gothic-style dress holding a small case and a rabbit doll.  
The captain nodded. "Don't let her looks fool you, she's an extremely dangerous foe. You're being put in charge of Epsilon squad as usual. Set out to Hamel as soon as everyone's ready." She said.  
As I turned to leave, she put one hand on my shoulder. "May the wheels of fate turn in your favor, Lieutenant. I feel this will be one of your biggest missions yet..."  
Three days later, my squad and I arrived in Hamel.  
"Where should we search first?" Shiro, Epsilon's rookie member, asked while looking around. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, a scream came from an alley.  
"Come on, that might be a victim of the target!" I said, pulling out my double-scythe and running over, the others following behind.  
When we arrived, we saw a woman on the ground, unconscious, with the target standing above her grinning.  
"There's the Bloody Marionette!" I shouted, rushing in to attack. The target giggled and back-stepped my attack.  
"Heehee, blue-hair missed Mari!" She laughed, hitting me on the head with her case. She was surprisingly strong and caused me to make a crater in the ground.  
"Nyte!" Shiro's arm became encased in ice, and he ran in to punch the girl. Before he could, a small doll leapt from behind her and slashed him.  
"Mari can't play with strangers. Papa says so. So Mari's gonna go bye-bye!" The target giggled and put her rabbit doll on the ground. "Lapin Musical!" She said, covering her ears and ducking down. A loud noise emitted from the doll, causing everyone to collapse and hold their heads.  
When the noise faded, she was gone.  
"She got away!?" I growled and punched the wall. "We need to find her, and quick! Everyone, spread out!"  
The others hurried off to search, but I lingered a bit and noticed that her rabbit was still there. "Hm... This may prove useful..." I reached down and picked it up. After ensuring there weren't any bombs or anything on it, I tossed it in my bag and began my search.  
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Nyte: Currently looking for OCs to join the cast. No definite number of slots. Anyone interested, please fill out the form below. If you wish to see mine and Mari's sheets, simply search their name in the Elsword NA Forums, since our creator is too lazy to move them here.  
Mari: Mari hopes we get a big, fun group!

Name:

Age:

Race:

Weapon:

Appearance:

Personality:

Special Abilities, if any:

Path(s): (Base, First Job Change, Second Job Change) (If multiple, please specify which you want me to use, or you could tell me to pick)

First Job Change Description:

Second Job Change Description:

Skills:


	2. Confrontation

"Papa's gonna be so proud of Mari! She hopes to get rewarded, especially since she escaped that blue-hair and his friends all by herself!"

I heard the target's voice coming from up ahead. Peering around the street corner, I saw the target glancing around before heading into a toy store. I followed behind quietly, careful to avoid detection.

Inside, the target headed straight to the back of the store and stopped, her eyes flashing red.

"Petite Lapin! Show Mari the enemy's location!" She said, snapping. The rabbit doll in my bag suddenly leapt out and began to emit an ear-splitting noise. The target quickly turned and rushed up to me.

"Mari found him~" She said in a singsong voice. Before I could react, she swung her case against my head, sending me flying into a stack of toy swords. When I pushed them off and reached behind for Solstice, I noticed it wasn't on my back. 'It must be lost in the pile of toys...' I thought. Sighing, I reached down and grabbed one of the toy swords. While I specialize in scythewielding, I had also learned swordsmanship during training as a rookie. I froze the blunt wooden blade into a larger, sharper one of ice before moving in to strike. The target backstepped my attack before setting down her case. At the snap of her fingers, chains burst out from the case and wrapped around my limbs, stopping my movement. As the target came closer, I closed my eyes and accepted my fate...

But strangely, nothing came.

I opened my eyes and saw the target's grey eyes staring up at me.

"Blue-hair's not human either?" The target asked, stepping back. "He doesn't smell like human. What is he?" She asked tilting her head.

I growled and glared at her. "You don't know what you're talking about! I am human!" I knew what she was referring to, but still I denied it.

"Really?" The target merely giggled and walked towards the pile of toy swords, shifting through it until she found my scythe. She looked over it for awhile before twirling it a few times.

"If he really is right, the assassin will die... If he lives, Mari's right." She turned towards me and walked over, raising the scythe. "Let's see who wins the bet!~" With that, she brought my weapon down, cutting open my chest. The last thing I saw was the target standing over me, speaking one last sentence to herself, before everything went black...

"Mari wonders who won..."

**Sorry that chapter took so long, despite the short length. I'll try to update more often from now on. OCs are gonna start appearing starting next chapter. Rather than quickly throwing everyone in at once, they'll be appearing gradually throughout the story. Sorry if anyone doesn't like that, but I find it better that way.**


	3. Recovery

When I finally opened my eyes, I noticed I wasn't in the toy store anymore. I seemed to be in an inn. I was too much pain to get up, so I just turned my head to look around. Turning my head to the side, I saw the rest of Epsilon Squad, talking with two hooded strangers. They appeared to be teenagers, one male and one female, judging by body shape.

"Oh look, he's awake!" The male said, glancing over at me. Everyone walked over to me, surrounding the bed.

Angel, a member of Epsilon, helped me sit upright. Looking down, I noticed the large cut across my chest. It was partially bandaged and, from what I could see, seemed mostly healed. It would definitely leave a scar, though.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"No more than a day." Angel said.

"Nightwing here found you unconscious in front of the inn this morning and brought you in." Shiro gestured towards the hooded boy. The stranger pulled back his hood, revealing his black hair and fox-like ears.

"Hehe, Yeah. You were pretty banged-up then, though. Must've been quite a brawl, eh?" He joked, making me flinch at the memory. "Your wounds looked fatal, but your body seems to have recovered in such a short time... You must be super lucky or something to have survived at all."

"Yeah... 'lucky'..." I mumbled, staring at the bandages. In reality, the reason behind my quick recovery had nothing to do with luck, but rather something closer to misfortune. "Anyway, you have my thanks."

"Don't mention it." Right after he spoke, his stomach let out a loud growl. "But, if you really wanna repay me..." He laughed.

"You want to be treated to a meal? Sure?" I said. By then, the pain had subsided and I was able to move again, albeit not very much. I got up off the bed and nodded. "Let's go."

Some time later, we all sat around a table of an outdoor cafe. We had been there for awhile, so everyone was done eating. Well, everyone aside from the fox-boy, who continued to devour the huge amount of food he had ordered. 'He alone is going to blow away half of the money we arrived with...' I thought, sighing.

"So, Nightwing... What brings you to Hamel, anyway?" Shiro asked.

Nightwing looked up at him, mouth full of food. He swallowed it all and let out a small laugh. "Oh, funny story there. You see, we're kinda on the run..."

"Ah, okay... WAIT, WHAT?!" Shiro stared at the fox in shock.

"Well, to be specific, my partner's the one on the run. I'm just helpingher out." Nightwing said, gesturing to the hooded girl, who removed her hood and bowed. She had blue eyes and long hair with cat-ear like parts of similar ice-blue coloring as my own.

"My name is Sora no Yuki, pleased to meet you." She said politely.

"I found her in the forest. She's apparently an angel who was wrongly accused of murder, but ended up here on elrios rather than falling below." Nightwing explained. "And now there are a few angels who want to take her down to the demon world, and we're now running from them."

"Ah, I see..." Shiro nodded. "Well, if you ever need a hand, give us a shout, okay?" He offered. I sighed and smiled a bit. That's Shiro for you, always quick to lend a helping hand.

"How about you guys? What're you here for?" Nightwing asked. Before any of us could come up with a fake reason for being there(we can't tell our real purpose to anyone), I noticed someone familar-looking at the end of the street. She quickly turned the corner, so I didn't get a good look, but I was sure of who it was the moment I saw that flash of white hair and that red dress.

"It's her!" I shouted, bolting from my seat and chasing after her, my teammates in tow. Sora and Nightwing soon followed as well, probably out of curiousity, but likely to avoid being stuck with the bill, at least in the latter's case.

"Hey, get back here, you stupid brats! You gotta pay for this, y'know!" Just after I turned the corner, I could hear the cafe owner yelling at us, but I was too focused on the target to care. Around the corner, the target was well ahead and glanced back at me as she ran, a playful grin on her face. I growled and sped after her, pulling out my scythe, but she just let out a laugh and kept ahead of me.

"Mari won the last bet, so let's make a new one! If you catch Mari, you win. If not, she wins. Ready? Go!~"

What does she think this is, a game?


	4. Breaking Point

After chasing the target through countless streets and alleys, we ended up back in front of the toy store from before. 'This place again..? Hm... It might somehow be of some significance to her...' I thought. The target glanced back at me before trying to run inside, but I slid my scythe's blade aross the ground, sending forward a trail of ice spikes. "Chill Ride!" The target jumped out of the way of the attack, but I still got my target. The spikes managed the block the door, effectively cutting off the target's escape route.

"Oopsie, Mari forgot about Blue-Hair's freezy cold magic..." The target giggled, looking back at me. She pulled out her sword-wielding doll and hugged it, pretending to listen to it. "Yeah, Elizabeth's right. Mari needs to be more careful next time." She said, her eyes flashing red as her doll seemed to disappear in a blur.

Suddenly I felt something strike my back and knock me to the ground. Rolling back to my feet and turning around, I saw that it was the doll that had slashed me. I felt the cold air on the fresh wound on my back.

"Northern Wind!" Spinning my scythe overhead, I tossed it at the target and coated my fist with ice. The target deflected my attack with her case, sending it off to the side, and laughed. "Home run!~" I ran at the doll and punched, sending it flying backwards and freezing it in a block of ice. The target let out a quiet, angry whine. It sounded similar to something a small kid would make when upset. She rushed at me and swung her case wildly. I managed to back-step the first two blows, but then she hit with an uppercut that sent me into the air.

Suddenly chains burst from her case and held me up by the neck. The target snapped and a bear puppet appeared from the case. It's arms had saw chains embedded in its arms, which were revving like a couple of chainsaws. The puppet jumped up and slashed my shoulder, the bear's saws digging into my arm. I screamed out in pain as the doll tore into my shoulder and chest. Before the blades reached my heart, the bear was sent flying back down and into the ground. The chains holding me were suddenly severed, too, dropping me back down. Looking up, I saw Shiro flying above with... angel wings? No, they weren't his. Looking closer, the angel from before was carrying him.

"Don't run off on your own, Nyte!" He called as the angel brought him down to the ground and released him. She flew off to attack the target, firing a few arrows that formed a field around the target, trapping her.

"Sorry, I didn't want to let her escape..." I said, covering my wound with my hand and falling to one knee. Shiro noticed me and hurried over, sheathing his sword.

"That looks pretty bad, man... Just hold on a bit longer, the others will be here in a sec." He said, kneeling down to inspect the wound. Just before he started treating me, Sora was heard screaming. We both turned towards the sound, seeing that the target had broken through the field and was attacking the angel. Shiro stood up and pulled his blade from its sheath. "I'll take care of this."

He ran towards the fight, but the target's bear puppet as well as the sword-wielding one appeared in front of him, ready to fight him. The bear struck first, but Shiro dodged the attack and countered with his sword, sending it flying away. The doll tried to sneak up on him and slash. I quickly pointed my arm forward and spoke.

"Winter Solstice, return to your master." The scythe twirled back from the spot Mari knocked it to and came into my grasp, splitting the doll in half on its way to me.

The target saw this and screamed. "Ours! Elizabeth!" Her eyes darkened. "Blue-Hair killed them!" She vanished suddenly, appearing behind Sora and striking her from behind, sending her plummeting face-first into a window and knocking her out. The target vanished again, appearing in front of me. Before I could react, she fired a chain from the case. I closed my eyes and shielded my face. Moments later, the sound of tearing flesh filled the air, accompanied with the smell of blood. After noticing the lack of pain, I opened me eyes. Shiro stood between me and the attack, having shielded me with his body. He looked back at me and grinned slightly, blood dripping from his chest. "Hehe, looks like I got to play hero on my first mission... Lucky me..." He said quietly. The target pulled the chain back before sending another into him, killing him instantly. My entire body began to shake as I stared at the blood dripping down the the ground.

"Stay out of Mari's way!" The target growled, tossing the corpse aside. I lowered my head and shook even more as tears fell to the ground. She began to walk towards me. Shiro's dead... It was my fault. I caused a teammate to lose his life... I felt angry, afraid, devastated... I wanted to scream, but I couldn't move. I felt something engulfing me. Something was trying to take over. A familiar presence, something that had been there within. Always watching, waiting, for a chance like this. I didn't fight it, I let it take over. Let the darkness take me in. A black aura surrounded me and I began to chuckle softly. It grew louder, becoming full blown laughter.

The target paused and began to back up. "Wh-what's so funny? Mari just killed Blue-Hair's friend. Why is he smiling? Why?" She asked. I suddenly glared up at her, my hair becoming undone and falling over my face messily.

"Why am I smiling..? That's easy..." I quickly moved directly in front of her in the blink of an eye, ignoring my wounds. I looked her dead in the eyes and licked my lips. "You've released a devil, girly..." I grinned widely. Before she was able to react, I kicked her in the side, sending her flying into a wall. "... And I'm gonna make you regret it!" Just as she recovered, I grabbed her neck and slammed her back into the wall repeatedly. After I grew bored with that, I tossed her to the ground and kicked her across the road.

"P-please... stop... It hurts..." She cried. I looked down at her and laughed, calling my scythe to me.

"What happened to that 'life's a fun game' attitude of yours?" I asked, holding one blade of the scythe to her neck and applying pressure, drawing blood. She stared up at me, teary-eyed.

"Please don't kill Mari... She doesn't want to die..." I brought the blade back and prepared to decapitate her, but suddenly hesitated to swing.

'Why aren't you finishing her?' A voice in my head asked.

'I don't know...'

'Is it because she's just a child? No, you've had younger targets than her, and you had no problem then.'

'I know...'

'Because she's a girl? Of course not, you've killed plenty of woman.'

'I know...'

'Is it because she spared you once? Remember, that was a fatal wound. You survived because of me.'

'It's not that either...'

'Then what?'

Looking down at her, it suddenly hit me; she was scared. She genuinely feared for her life. I was reminded of myself, all those years ago...

~~Five Years Ago~~

_ "This shouldn't be happening! This was supposed a D ranked demon, but his strength is off the charts! He's beyond even an SS!"_

_ "What the hell? This is nuts!"_

_ "There's no way this is possi- Ahh!"_

_ My teammates' screams filled the bloody cave as they were all slaughtered before my eyes. Covering my mouth, I fell backwards and looked up at the black demon that was now standing over me. His claws dripped with blood. He looked down at my wounded body and laughed. I was trembling as I looking into his glowing eyes._

~~Present~~

'Is that how I look to her?' I wondered. 'What am I becoming..?'

'You're becoming like me, powerful. Doesn't it feel great? Now, hurry and finish her off! She killed your friend, remember?' The voice said. 'Just give in to the madness and chop her apart already... I can give you unlimited power! All the power you'll need to avenge your fallen friend, and do anything else you want to.'

'I can gain... power?'

'Yes, of course. All you have to do is listen to me...'

* * *

**Nyte: **And there's chapter 4, guys.

**Mari: **Mari and Nyte's owner has decided to let the readers pick our paths by voting on the poll on his profile.

**Nyte:** Well, you can only directly decide mine, since Mari's path is dependent on mine. Either way, please vote for your favorite path, and remember that our paths have a major impact on how the story goes.

**Mari: **For now, au revoir, readers!


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